Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise was an 1820 act that served as a compromise between pro-slavery and pro-abolitionism factions of American politics. The act divided the country by the Mason-Dixon Line; the nations to the north of the line would be free states, and the nations south of the line would be slave states. Missouri, located north of the line, was admitted a slave state, while the southerners allowed for Maine to become a separate state from Massachusetts to appease the balance of power. The compromise was effectively overturned by the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act thirty years later.